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Way to go Ontario!

Ontario's government has put Goldman Sachs, the bank being investigated by the US Congress for fraud, in charge of selling off Ontario's public assets including Power companies, LCBO, and the lottery commission.

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Professor Noam Chomsky, an American linguist and left-wing activist, was denied entry into Israel and the West Bank on Sunday.

No reason was initially given for the decision, but the Interior Ministry later said immigration officials at the Allenby Bridge border crossing from Jordan had misunderstood Chomsky's intentions thinking initially he was also due to visit Israel.

Chomsky, who is on a speaking tour in the region, was scheduled to speak at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank on Monday.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said officials were now trying to get clearance from the Israel Defense Forces, which controls access to the West Bank to allow Chomsky to enter that territory.

"We are trying to contact the military to clear things up and if they have no objection we see no reason why he should not be allowed in," said Hadad.
Chomsky said inspectors had stamped the words "denied entry" onto his passport when he tried to cross from Jordan over Allenby Bridge.

When he asked an Israeli inspector why he had not received permission, he was told that an explanation would be sent in writing to the American embassy. "They apparently didn't like the fact that I was due to lecture at a Palestinian university and not in Israel," Chomsky told Reuters by telephone from Amman.

Chomsky arrived at the Allenby Bridge at around 1:30 in the afternoon and was taken for questioning, before being released back to Amman at 4:30 P.M.

In a telephone interview with Channel 10, Chomsky said the interrogators had told him he had written things that the Israeli government did not like. "I suggested [the interrogator try to] find any government in the world that likes anything I say," he said.

Chomsky is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is considered among the foremost academics in the world. He identifies with the radical left and is often critical of both Israeli and American policies.

Chomsky said he last visited Israel and the West Bank in 1997 when he lectured at Ben-Gurion University and also at Bir Zeit. He said all his previous West Bank visits had been as a part of trips to Israel.

His Palestinian host, lawmaker Mustafa al-Barghouti called the decision "a fascist action, amounting to suppression of freedom of expression."

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel slammed the Interior Ministry for "using detention and deportation to prevent a man from expressing his opinion", calling it "characteristic of a totalitarian regime."

"A democratic country where freedom of expression is a guiding principle does not close in the face of criticism or ideas that are not comfortable and does not deny entry to guests only because it does not accept their opinions. Instead, it deals with these opinions through public discussion," said ACRI in a statement.

Kadima MK Otniel Schneller, on the other hand, praised the move.
"It's good that Israel did not allow one of its accusers to enter its territory," said Schneller. "I recommend [Chomsky] try one of the tunnels connecting Gaza and Egypt."

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Texas schools board rewrites US history with lessons promoting God and guns

US Christian conservatives drop references to slave trade and sideline Thomas Jefferson who backed church-state separation

Cynthia Dunbar is one of a clutch of US Christian evangelists who have grasped control of the Texas education board. Photograph: Harry Cabluck/AP

Cynthia Dunbar does not have a high regard for her local schools. She has called them unconstitutional, tyrannical and tools of perversion. The conservative Texas lawyer has even likened sending children to her state's schools to "throwing them in to the enemy's flames". Her hostility runs so deep that she educated her own offspring at home and at private Christian establishments.

Now Dunbar is on the brink of fulfilling a promise to change all that, or at least point Texas schools toward salvation. She is one of a clutch of Christian evangelists and social conservatives who have grasped control of the state's education board. This week they are expected to force through a new curriculum that is likely to shift what millions of American schoolchildren far beyond Texas learn about their history.

The board is to vote on a sweeping purge of alleged liberal bias in Texas school textbooks in favour of what Dunbar says really matters: a belief in America as a nation chosen by God as a beacon to the world, and free enterprise as the cornerstone of liberty and democracy.

"We are fighting for our children's education and our nation's future," Dunbar said. "In Texas we have certain statutory obligations to promote patriotism and to promote the free enterprise system. There seems to have been a move away from a patriotic ideology. There seems to be a denial that this was a nation founded under God. We had to go back and make some corrections."

Those corrections have prompted a blizzard of accusations of rewriting history and indoctrinating children by promoting rightwing views on religion, economics and guns while diminishing the science of evolution, the civil rights movement and the horrors of slavery.

Several changes include sidelining Thomas Jefferson, who favoured separation of church and state, while introducing a new focus on the "significant contributions" of pro-slavery Confederate leaders during the civil war.

The new curriculum asserts that "the right to keep and bear arms" is an important element of a democratic society. Study of Sir Isaac Newton is dropped in favour of examining scientific advances through military technology.

There is also a suggestion that the anti-communist witch-hunt by Senator Eugene McCarthy in the 1950s may have been justified.

The education board has dropped references to the slave trade in favour of calling it the more innocuous "Atlantic triangular trade", and recasts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as driven by Islamic fundamentalism.

"There is a battle for the soul of education," said Mavis Knight, a liberal member of the Texas education board. "They're trying to indoctrinate with American exceptionalism, the Christian founding of this country, the free enterprise system. There are strands where the free enterprise system fits appropriately but they have stretched the concept of the free enterprise system back to medieval times. The president of the Texas historical association could not find any documentation to support the stretching of the free enterprise system to ancient times but it made no difference."

The curriculum has alarmed liberals across the country in part because Texas buys millions of text books every year, giving it considerable sway over what publishers print. By some estimates, all but a handful of American states rely on text books written to meet the Texas curriculum. The California legislature is considering a bill that would bar them from being used in the state's schools.

In the past four years, Christian conservatives have won almost half the seats on the Texas education board and can rely on other Republicans for support on most issues. They previously tried to require science teachers to address the "strengths and weaknesses" in the theory of evolution ? a move critics regard as a back door to teaching creationism ? but failed. They have had more success in tackling history and social studies.

Dunbar backed amendments to the curriculum that portray the free enterprise system (there is no mention of capitalism, deemed to be a tainted word) as a cornerstone of liberty and argue that the government should have a minimal role in the economy.

One amendment requires that students be taught that economic prosperity requires "minimal government intrusion and taxation".

Underpinning the changes is a particular view of religion.

Dunbar was elected to the state education board on the back of a campaign in which she argued for the teaching of creationism ? euphemistically known as intelligent design ? in science classes.

Two years ago, she published a book, One Nation Under God, in which she argued that the United States was ultimately governed by the scriptures.

"The only accurate method of ascertaining the intent of the founding fathers at the time of our government's inception comes from a biblical worldview," she wrote. "We as a nation were intended by God to be a light set on a hill to serve as a beacon of hope and Christian charity to a lost and dying world."

On the education board, Dunbar backed changes that include teaching the role the "Jewish Ten Commandments" played in "political and legal ideas", and the study of the influence of Moses on the US constitution. Dunbar says these are important steps to overturning what she believes is the myth of a separation between church and state in the US.

"There's been this amorphous changing of how we look at religion and how we define religion within American history. One concern I have is that the viewpoint of the founding fathers is very clear. They were not against the promotion of religion. I think it is important to present a historically accurate viewpoint to students," she said.

On the face of it some of the changes are innocuous but critics say that closer scrutiny reveals a not-so-hidden agenda. History students are now to be required to study documents, such as the Mayflower Compact, which instil the idea of America being founded as a Christian fundamentalist nation.

Knight and others do not question that religion was an important force in American history but they fear that it is being used as a Trojan horse by evangelists to insert religious indoctrination into the school curriculum. They point to the wording of amendments such as that requiring students to "describe how religion and virtue contributed to the growth of representative government in the American colonies".

Among the advisers the board brought in to help rewrite the curriculum is David Barton, the leader of WallBuilders which seeks to promote religion in history. Barton has campaigned against the separation of church and state. He argues that income tax should be abolished because it contradicts the bible. Among his recommendations was that pupils should be taught that the declaration of independence establishes that the creator is at the heart of law, government and individual rights.

Conservatives have been accused of an assault on the history of civil rights. One curriculum amendment describes the civil rights movement as creating "unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes" among minorities. Another seeks to place Martin Luther King and the violent Black Panther movement as opposite sides of the same coin.

"We had a big discussion around that," said Knight, a former teacher. "It was an attempt to taint the civil rights movement. They did the same by almost equating George Wallace [the segregationist governor of Alabama in the mid-1960s] with the civil rights movement and the things Martin Luther King Jr was trying to accomplish, as if Wallace was standing up for white civil rights. That's how slick they are.

"They're very smooth at excluding the contributions of minorities into the curriculum. It is as if they want to render minority groups totally invisible. I think it's racist. I really do."

The blizzard of amendments has produced the occasional farce. Some figures have been sidelined because they are deemed to be socialist or un-American. One of them is a children's author, Bill Martin, who wrote a popular tale, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Martin was purged from the curriculum when he was confused with an author with a similar name but a different book, Ethical Marxism.

Your Viagra and You...

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[Predator24]

Taking your land at the barrel of a gun

FRANKLIN, Vt. ? The red brick house sits unassumingly on a sleepy back road where the lush farmlands of northern Vermont roll quietly into Canada. This is the Morses Line border crossing, a point of entry into the United States where more than three cars an hour constitute heavy traffic.

The bucolic setting of silos and sugar maples has become the focus of a bitter dispute that pits one of America?s most revered traditions ? the family-owned farm ? against the post-9/11 reality of terror attacks on US soil.

The Department of Homeland Security sees Morses Line as a weak link in the nation?s borders, attractive to terrorists trying to smuggle in lethal materials. The government is planning an estimated $8 million renovation here as part of a nationwide effort to secure border crossings.

It intends to acquire 4.9 acres of border land on a dairy farm owned for three generations by the Rainville family. Last month, the Rainvilles learned that if they refuse to sell the land for $39,500, the government intends to seize it by eminent domain.

The Rainvilles call this an unjustified land-grab by federal bullies.

?They are trying to steamroll us,?? said Brian Rainville, 36, a high school government and civics teacher whose grandfather bought the farm in 1946 and whose parents and two brothers run it now. ?We have a buyer holding a gun to our head saying you have to sell or else.??

The Rainvilles say the land, where they grow a portion of the feed for 150 head of cattle, is worth far more than the offer, and is critical at a time when the low price of milk has dairy farmers struggling to cover the cost of production.

?It?s like taking a leg off a stool. If you reduce the hay, you reduce the herd; if you reduce the herd, you immediately affect the viability of the farm,?? Brian Rainville said. ?Last year, the farm lost money. Right now, we are hanging on by our fingernails.??

The family?s many supporters in the area do not dispute that the Morses Line facility, some 50 miles southeast of Montreal, is outdated. But they do not understand why the government needs to spend millions on it.

?The whole thing is a perfect example of waste,?? said Glen Gurwit of Swanton, a customs inspector for 31 years who frequently worked at Morses Line before retiring in 2004. He said the port is used mostly by locals crossing to visit relatives, play hockey, or shop, and is notable for its ?peace, quiet, and isolation.??

?We used to spend hours watching deer graze,?? he said.

Homeland Security officials counter that modernizing border facilities should be a national priority. US Customs and Border Protection received $420 million in federal stimulus funds to renovate ports of entry along the Canadian and Mexican borders.

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A man is suing his mother over her alleged failure to protect him from his father's beatings.

The 32-year-old County Durham man, who cannot be identified, told the High Court in London that his mother, now in her late 60s, assaulted him herself.

He claimed that she aided and abetted daily punishment by her husband by reporting his wrongdoings.

His mother denied liability and has claimed the case was brought outside the legal time limit.

The man, who was brought up in west London, claimed he was assaulted up to four times a day between the ages of five and 19 by the father he called a "tormentor".

He said he was hit with a stick, belt, electrical lead or wooden brush until he was 16 and struck with an open hand and throttled or choked as he got older.

'Reasonable chastisement'

His mother said her son was "exaggerating".

She did agree that she slapped him occasionally but said it was "reasonable chastisement" and denied hitting him with a clothes brush.

The son said in court: "I saw that she did not like me and it led me to think that her primary concern in seeking help was to make her home life run more smoothly and not the welfare of myself or my siblings.

"I wouldn't say my mother had done her best to protect me. I always felt she could have done more.

"She wasn't a tormentor like my father was, continually looking for excuses to assault me.

"For the best part of it she was herself fairly harmless."

The man is seeking damages for pain and suffering as well as ?7,800 to pay for therapy.

He claimed he first consulted a solicitor 10 years ago but did not take action as he found ordinary life a struggle.

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Bradford accused gives name as 'crossbow cannibal'


A man charged with the murders of three Bradford women has referred to himself as the "crossbow cannibal" in court.

Stephen Griffiths, 40, is accused of murdering prostitutes Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage, and Susan Rushworth.

Mature student Mr Griffiths, of Thornton Road, Bradford, was remanded in custody by magistrates and later by a judge at the city's crown court.

Recent events have been described in some of the tabloid press as the "crossbow cannibal killings".

When asked to confirm his name by magistrates, Mr Griffiths told the court he was "the crossbow cannibal".

Relatives in court

Asked for his address, he replied: "Erm... here I guess."

Relatives of some of the victims were in court for the magistrates' court hearing. Some wiped away tears at the start of the proceedings.

After appearing before magistrates, Mr Griffiths was then taken to Bradford Crown Court.

During this appearance, which lasted only 10 minutes, Mr Griffiths - flanked by security officers - spoke only to confirm his name.

He will next appear at the crown court via video link on 7 June.

He is accused of murdering Ms Blamires, 36, between 20 May and 25 May; murdering Ms Rushworth, 43, between 22 June, 2009, and 25 May this year, and murdering Ms Armitage, 31, between 25 April and 25 May this year.

Police said body parts found in the River Aire on Tuesday were from Ms Blamires, who had lived in Barkston Walk, Allerton, and was last seen on 21 May.

Ms Armitage, also from Allerton, has been missing since 26 April and Ms Rushworth, from the Manningham area of the city, disappeared on 22 June last year.

Mr Griffiths is reported to be a psychology graduate undertaking postgraduate research in criminology at Bradford University.

He was arrested on Monday at his third-floor flat, which is on the edge of the city's red light district and a short distance from Bradford city centre.

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US balloon daredevil floats across English Channel

A US adventurer has completed his attempt to cross the English Channel using dozens of helium-filled balloons.

Jonathan Trappe set off from a field near Ashford, Kent just after 0500 BST strapped to a chair and suspended by clusters of giant inflatables.

The 36-year-old daredevil became the first cluster-balloonist to cross the Channel when he landed in a French cabbage field at about 0900 BST.

He said flying over the white cliffs of Dover was "tremendously beautiful".

Mr Trappe's daring crossing was reminiscent of a journey taken by grumpy pensioner Carl Fredricksen in the recent animated film Up.

'Wonderful fantasy'

After setting off from Kent Gliding Club in Challock, Mr Trappe sailed across the coast and over the Channel.

When he reached the French countryside he started cutting away the balloons to aid his descent.

Just after 0900 BST he avoided a power line and bounced to a halt in a cabbage field.

The trained pilot told Sky News: "It was just an exceptional, quiet, peaceful experience.

"Didn't you have this dream - grabbing on to a bunch of toy balloons and floating off? I think it's something that's shared across cultures and across borders.

"Just this wonderful fantasy of grabbing on to toy balloons and floating into open space."

World record

He added: "There are risks and we work to methodically reduce the risk so we can have a safe and fun flight.

"Because really it's only about dreams and enjoying an adventure and that's only enjoyable when it is safe."

In April he flew 109 miles across North Carolina to claim a new world record for the longest free-floating balloon flight.

A French Police spokesmen said they were surprised to see Mr Trappe but he had the correct documents and was not arrested.

The spokesman added: "He had all the correct authorisation and I believe he even gave something to the owner of the land where he came down by way of damages."

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Girls Aloud star's underwear role

Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle has become a celebrity ambassador for a Glasgow firm which makes underwear for people who wear colostomy bags.

The Irish singer teamed up with Vanilla Blush after a friend had an operation which left him needing a colostomy bag for the rest of his life.

She wants to help people rebuild their confidence after major bowel surgery.

Vanilla Blush was set up by 33-year-old Nicola Dames after she had major surgery in 2006.

Ms Coyle, 21, said she decided to speak out after her friend, hairstylist Connor Grant, had an operation in January which left him needing a colostomy bag.

"This was a big worry, especially in our industries where there is so much pretence at body perfection," she said.

"I was amazed at the negative connotations that surrounds people with a stoma and also shocked at the lack of exposure in the mainstream media. This is one taboo which I am right on board in helping to smash."

The LA-based singer has agreed to be a celebrity ambassador for Vanilla Blush and is set to appear at a nursing conference in Arizona, in the US, with models to promote the firm.

Ms Dames said that donations were already coming in which would help Vanilla Blush get its models over to the catwalks of America.

She added: "I am pleased to say that we have already received a ?2,000 donation. With Nadine's help we should be going Stateside."

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Tsk. Tsk. Sloppy work.

2-6 needs to show him how to properly dispose of bodies.